Cognitive: Students will understand that people are more than the labels we attach to them. They will understand that it hurts to be treated without respect. Affective: Students will sympathize with Gabriella. They will want to treat others more kindly. They will experience some healing from the hurtful or disrespectful treatment of others toward them. Behavioral: Students will identify teasing, labeling, or disrespectful behavior in themselves and in others. They will apply what they have learned by ceasing such behaviors themselves and encouraging others to cease them. They will interpret such behavior as hurtful and unhelpful.
Ask for a student volunteer to recount the story “Teacher’s Pet.” Ask for other volunteers to fill in important points or details.
Write on the board, “Don’t judge others.” Explain that this means not to decide what a person is like without really knowing him or her. Since we don’t know most people’s lives and situations, we shouldn’t decide that they are or are not a certain way and begin to treat them as if our judgment of them is all that they are.
Ask students if they know what a label is, and have them show some labels from their clothes. Sometimes people will or will not buy certain labels of clothing because of that label’s reputation.
Explain that when we label someone, we are giving him or her a reputation. We are giving them a brand name, good or bad. Ask students to name some of the “labels” people put on other people. Some examples in American English would be “nerd” or “geek.” These are usually very smart students who are excellent in one subject—say, computers. “He’s a computer geek” means that he really likes computers and spends most of his time thinking about, playing with, and talking about computers. “Dork” would mean someone who is socially clumsy, who does not seem as quick to catch onto things as everyone else. “Wimp” is someone who appears weak. “Loser” is another label for someone who does not act the way everyone thinks he or she should act. “Fatso” or “Whale” or “Blimp” might be applied to someone who is overweight.
These labels are hurtful because no person is just one thing or another. The computer nerd might also love music or have fifteen cousins who all love him, or he may travel with his dad to foreign countries. He is not just a computer nerd. He is Johnny or Ted or Frank or William, and he is a full person with many interests and feelings. “Fatso” may be an extremely kind-hearted person. He or she is not just a lump of fat. He or she may be a wonderful human being.
Explain that it is hard to know a lot about people without getting to know them very well. Remind students of the interview they did with classmates they did not know very well in the last class session. Ask, “Weren’t there some things you did not know about the person you interviewed? Weren’t there some surprises?”
Point out that, in the story, Gabriella has been labeled a teacher’s pet by some other girls. They think she is just trying to flatter the teacher to get good grades and that all she cares about is trying to be the teacher’s favorite. They look down on her for that reason and insult her. At one point, they act like she is “just nothing”—not worth being jealous of. Have students find the passage in the story that shows that and read it aloud.
Ask: “Is any human being just nothing but the label we have put on them?” Affirm that no one is, so any label is really unfair because it puts a person in a box, with a brand, and says, “That is all this person is.” It is never the whole truth about a person.
The truth about Gabriella, for instance, is not that she is a teacher’s pet. She is a young girl who has lost her mother in a tragic accident. She is smart and brave and trying to make a relationship with a grown-up who can help her in life, since she is missing someone so important. She has been able to make a friend in Kenneth too, so she is a person who can make friends. She is not “just” this or “just” that. She is a complicated human being with feelings.
Ask students if, when they found out her story, they felt sorry for Gabriella. Point out that the girls in the story felt sorry for her once they knew about her life. They had what is called a “change of heart” toward Gabriella once they understood why she was acting the way she was.
Write on the board “To know all is to forgive all.” Ask students what they think this means. Ask them if they think it is true, and if anyone has ever had an experience with this. It would be good if a volunteer could relate a story on this to the class, or if you could.
Ask students to do the Questions for Reflection.
Class Session 2
Begin class by mentioning that everyone wants to belong. Everyone wants friends and to be accepted and respected as part of the group. When we are not respected and accepted, we feel bad. Ask students if this is true.
Ask students if any of them have ever been called a name. Ask them to raise their hands if they have.
Ask students to raise their hands if:
They have ever been pushed or shoved out of a line or away from a drinking fountain.
They have ever been teased about the way they talk, the way they look, or the color of their skin.
They have ever felt left out.
They have ever been the last to be chosen for sides in a game.
They have ever heard other people laughing at them.
They have ever overheard an adult or group saying something cruel about them.
They have ever been told they are “too” something—too loud, too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, too needy, too anything.
They have ever been teased for wearing glasses, wearing clothes that someone didn’t like, having braces, having buck teeth, or having a big or flat nose.
They have ever been teased for having a scar
Mention that every person has something about him or her that is not perfect. Point out also that everyone makes mistakes, and it hurts if people laugh at us when we make mistakes. Every family has different incomes and different standards—sometimes they choose different clothes than are fashionable right now because they cannot afford anything else. Mention that if you ask the most glamorous movie star about herself, she may say something negative: “I always had trouble with my weight,” or “I was always teased about being tall,” or “I have a really hard time with my hair.” Even people who appear to be perfect are not.
Conclude that we all have to be more forgiving and accepting. Inside each person is a sensitive heart, a heart that is easily hurt when others laugh, tease, or insult. Encourage students to think of the heart inside the person when they want to put someone down in some way and to remember to be more kind. After all, point out that you never know all there is to know about that person, just like the teasing girls didn’t really know about Gabriella.
Lesson Objectives
Cognitive: Students will understand that people are more than the labels we attach to them. They will understand that it hurts to be treated without respect.
Affective: Students will sympathize with Gabriella. They will want to treat others more kindly. They will experience some healing from the hurtful or disrespectful treatment of others toward them.
Behavioral: Students will identify teasing, labeling, or disrespectful behavior in themselves and in others. They will apply what they have learned by ceasing such behaviors themselves and encouraging others to cease them. They will interpret such behavior as hurtful and unhelpful.
Ask for a student volunteer to recount the story “Teacher’s Pet.” Ask for other volunteers to fill in important points or details.
Write on the board, “Don’t judge others.” Explain that this means not to decide what a person is like without really knowing him or her. Since we don’t know most people’s lives and situations, we shouldn’t decide that they are or are not a certain way and begin to treat them as if our judgment of them is all that they are.
Ask students if they know what a label is, and have them show some labels from their clothes. Sometimes people will or will not buy certain labels of clothing because of that label’s reputation.
Explain that when we label someone, we are giving him or her a reputation. We are giving them a brand name, good or bad. Ask students to name some of the “labels” people put on other people. Some examples in American English would be “nerd” or “geek.” These are usually very smart students who are excellent in one subject—say, computers. “He’s a computer geek” means that he really likes computers and spends most of his time thinking about, playing with, and talking about computers. “Dork” would mean someone who is socially clumsy, who does not seem as quick to catch onto things as everyone else. “Wimp” is someone who appears weak. “Loser” is another label for someone who does not act the way everyone thinks he or she should act. “Fatso” or “Whale” or “Blimp” might be applied to someone who is overweight.
These labels are hurtful because no person is just one thing or another. The computer nerd might also love music or have fifteen cousins who all love him, or he may travel with his dad to foreign countries. He is not just a computer nerd. He is Johnny or Ted or Frank or William, and he is a full person with many interests and feelings. “Fatso” may be an extremely kind-hearted person. He or she is not just a lump of fat. He or she may be a wonderful human being.
Explain that it is hard to know a lot about people without getting to know them very well. Remind students of the interview they did with classmates they did not know very well in the last class session. Ask, “Weren’t there some things you did not know about the person you interviewed? Weren’t there some surprises?”
Point out that, in the story, Gabriella has been labeled a teacher’s pet by some other girls. They think she is just trying to flatter the teacher to get good grades and that all she cares about is trying to be the teacher’s favorite. They look down on her for that reason and insult her. At one point, they act like she is “just nothing”—not worth being jealous of. Have students find the passage in the story that shows that and read it aloud.
Ask: “Is any human being just nothing but the label we have put on them?” Affirm that no one is, so any label is really unfair because it puts a person in a box, with a brand, and says, “That is all this person is.” It is never the whole truth about a person.
The truth about Gabriella, for instance, is not that she is a teacher’s pet. She is a young girl who has lost her mother in a tragic accident. She is smart and brave and trying to make a relationship with a grown-up who can help her in life, since she is missing someone so important. She has been able to make a friend in Kenneth too, so she is a person who can make friends. She is not “just” this or “just” that. She is a complicated human being with feelings.
Ask students if, when they found out her story, they felt sorry for Gabriella. Point out that the girls in the story felt sorry for her once they knew about her life. They had what is called a “change of heart” toward Gabriella once they understood why she was acting the way she was.
Write on the board “To know all is to forgive all.” Ask students what they think this means. Ask them if they think it is true, and if anyone has ever had an experience with this. It would be good if a volunteer could relate a story on this to the class, or if you could.
Ask students to do the Questions for Reflection.
Class Session 2
Begin class by mentioning that everyone wants to belong. Everyone wants friends and to be accepted and respected as part of the group. When we are not respected and accepted, we feel bad. Ask students if this is true.
Ask students if any of them have ever been called a name. Ask them to raise their hands if they have.
Ask students to raise their hands if:
Mention that every person has something about him or her that is not perfect. Point out also that everyone makes mistakes, and it hurts if people laugh at us when we make mistakes. Every family has different incomes and different standards—sometimes they choose different clothes than are fashionable right now because they cannot afford anything else. Mention that if you ask the most glamorous movie star about herself, she may say something negative: “I always had trouble with my weight,” or “I was always teased about being tall,” or “I have a really hard time with my hair.” Even people who appear to be perfect are not.
Conclude that we all have to be more forgiving and accepting. Inside each person is a sensitive heart, a heart that is easily hurt when others laugh, tease, or insult. Encourage students to think of the heart inside the person when they want to put someone down in some way and to remember to be more kind. After all, point out that you never know all there is to know about that person, just like the teasing girls didn’t really know about Gabriella.
Ask students to do the Exercise.